Falling Into Place
by addictedtointernet
Summary: Elijah never thought he'd be able to find love again, not after Klaus destroyed every inkling of happiness he had ever know. But once Elijah lays eyes on a particularly pregnant werewolf, Klaus may not have a choice but to finally allow his brother his happiness.
1. Drink to Victory

**AN Here is my very first fanfic, I hope you like it. This story is very much Haylijah.**

**Borrowing the idea of imprinting from Twilight—I always really liked the idea. (Don't hate)**

**Altered version of The Originals—Hayley is still pregnant with Klaus's baby, but Rebekah and Elijah find out differently and Klaus has already won control of the Quarter. Probably some TVD crossover later as I plan some Klaroline action and may not resist the urge to throw in some Delana.**

**/AN**

Elijah was a man of impeccable taste, Rebekah noted as she watched him adjust his pale yellow bowtie. Her brother nearly always dressed in the finest three piece suits and his manners were as immaculate as his clothing. Today Elijah chose a navy jacket to go with his crisp white linen shirt. He stood still as stone, gazing off into the mirror, not breathing. Rebekah wondered where his thoughts lie. Perhaps he was imagining he was preparing for some grandiose family ball such as the one they had before their mother died and Klaus killed their father. Or maybe he was remembering dressing for one of Klaus's birthday parties, maybe even the one where he met Katarina, one of his early loves. Love. Though she so desired love for her brother, she hoped with all her heart that love was not the subject of Elijah's daydream. Klaus would never allow anyone in Elijah's life that would come before him, and any love of Elijah's certainly would. She did not wish love absent from her brother's thoughts vindictively, only mercifully. She couldn't bear to see Elijah in pain. For most of her life, Elijah was the only positive and honest force she knew. The only thing left to convince her that evil had not consumed the _entire _world, as it had seemed to consume her other brother, Klaus. Or so he would have her, and everyone else, believe. In any case, Rebekah decided she ought to rescue Elijah from his trance, just in case.

"Brother, I am surprised you did not choose your signature black jacket and black tie. Feeling a bit colorful today are we?" she asked playfully.

Elijah was one of the few people who ever saw kindness from his sister. They had a special bond, an understanding. The two trusted one another more than they could or would have their other siblings and especially more than Klaus.

He smiled and nodded politely. "Why yes dear sister, you've got me spot on. I figured we could both do with a little cheering up. Shall we?"

He took her arm and they made their way down the grand stair and into the ballroom.

It had been nearly a week since Klaus had phoned Rebekah to tell her of his conquest in New Orleans, the Mikealson's old hometown. He had regained control of The Quarter from an old friend turned enemy, Marcel. Rebekah told Elijah and the two travelled to New Orleans at once, hoping that this could be a fresh start and unifying moment for their family.

Klaus was never modest when it came to displays of power. His self proclaimed Inaugural Ball, celebrating his reclaiming of his Kingdom filled the Mikealson Estate to the brim with pomp and circumstance. Leaving no nose un-snubbed, Klaus made certain that Marcel and all of his followers were in attendance and in submission.

While their brother made pompous speeches and toasts to "The New Quarter" and his glorious rein the other Mikealsons did their best to appear supportive and authoritative, as Klaus would expect. They performed their familial duties but Elijah found himself growing weary of his brother's ego and returned to his pensive state and Rebekah grew bored and set out in search for something stronger than champagne.

Elijah's thoughts wandered through the years, memories suddenly deciding to flood through his mind. He thought of Katarina and how she betrayed him time and time again. He remembered Celeste, how he failed her, unable to protect her from his brother. Whether Klaus intended specifically to have her killed, he never knew, but her cold dead eyes stared up at him through the bathwater just the same. The countless others who died at his brothers hand, at times simply because she was unfortunate enough to have developed a small crush on him. He gripped his glass too tightly, his white-knuckle grasp shattering the crystal flute.

He heard someone moving about in the private family study two floors up. A quick glance around the room lead him to surmise it was probably Rebekah dipping into his aged scotch.

_It is a bit early in the night, I suppose, but it seems like we could both use a drink. _He thought as he quickly disappeared from the ballroom and arrived at the door of the study.

"Elijah." Rebekah acknowledged, handing him a heavy glass of whiskey. He inclined his head, thanking her silently. They both took seats in the worn leather armchairs near the draped window, the slightest bit of moonlight peering into the room.

Elijah sighed before he knocked back the glass, draining the golden liquid.

"Care to share, brother? I know something has been bothering you all day," Rebekah said.

He sighed again, this time internally. _Where to start? What words to use? I can't quite figure it out for myself. Something is simply, off…._

"I appreciate your concern, sister. I would tell you if I could, but frankly I am not so certain how to name this weight I carry. It feels like loneliness, like emptiness. But those words don't quite capture the feeling… Being back in the Quarter…. Living with Klaus… It just brings back so many memories…" He struggled for words.

"Elijah…. Klaus has not always been fair to you, or to me. In fact, he is rarely fair to anyone. He is selfish and would destroy the happiness of anyone and everyone he can when he is not happy. I understand. Klaus has maimed, drowned, burned and utterly destroyed each and every lover I've ever known. He has not allowed me a moment of peace nor happiness in all of my existence. Perhaps now that he has all of this power, his home back—his family back, we can make him see reason. Make him see that we aren't abandoning him for our own happiness. That it isn't so that there can be only one or the other…." She offered, thinking she was more hopeful than realistic in her words.

Elijah poured another glass, a taller one this time.

"I would love to share in your optimism, Rebekah. Perhaps I am feeling so forlorn, so defeated because it seems that our dear brother always manages to have his way and we must always relish in his victories lest he see our lack of proper enthusiasm as betrayal. I only wish he would be as enthusiastic of our own victories, of our own happiness…. Which I fear I will never again find."

Just then Elijah grasped onto something, pulled an abstract thought from his musings and understood, if even only a small enlightenment.

"For the past two days I've been feeling this sense of finality. To what, I am unsure. I just feel as though something has been set in motion that I am unable to control or stop. I fear that it has something to do with plots and plans of our brother, that I am once again some indispensible pawn in his game of world domination—."

"Don't be ridiculous brother, I'd peg you as more of a Knight or a Bishop. You are much more valuable and useful than a mere pawn, wouldn't you agree, Rebekah?" Klaus entered the room with a dangerous looking smile upon his face. Rebekah and Elijah exchanged worried glances, unsure of their brother's reactions. "Don't worry brother, sister, we can talk about your misgivings and grievances later. I've got someone for you to meet and something _very _important to tell you. A very special werewolf, indispensable for my, as you put it, Elijah, _plans for world domination._"


	2. Meetings, Greetings

Klaus led his siblings to the attic, the sounds of a lively party echoing from below.

"Behind this door, my dear brother and sister, is the key to my kingdom and insurance of my everlasting and absolute power." Klaus declared. Rebekah couldn't help but to roll her eyes.

A strange feeling began to grow in the pit of Elijah's stomach. Some elusive feeling he couldn't name or even describe despite his centuries of experience. He wrote it off as a feeling of foreboding for whatever his brother was scheming up, he certainly seemed sure of himself, and that could only lead to trouble.

With an absurd amount of pageantry and flair Klaus whisked the attic door open to reveal a slender brunette young woman. She was sitting in the far corner of the room, escaping the light of the lantern hanging near the door. She flinched away when she saw Klaus.

"You can't keep me locked up in here. I am not some animal that you can just lock up. You can't just imprison people, Klaus!" the girl yelled at her captor, Rebekah and Elijah were both impressed by the girl's lack of fear of their brother and terrified for her life.

"Au contraire, you are after all, my little wolf…" the girl hissed at his words, "You see, Hayley here shared my bed one evening after we had a bit too much of your scotch, brother. It seems that while vampires can't procreate, _hybrids_ can. Hayley is carrying my child, it seems that I am not the last hybrid on this planet after all. This child will be my heir, my insurance to my throne. No one will dare challenge me knowing what I am and what I can create."

"This woman is carrying your child, Niklaus? And you've kept her locked in an attic?" Elijah accused, incredulous at his brother's actions.

"Well only for the past, what, two days give or take. I needed to keep her near me; I can't risk the safety of my child. What with my Inaugural arrangements to be made I had to prepare for any dissent that may have arisen. Of course now she may move into the house properly—I'm having a room prepared. But I wanted to surprise you both at my ball, you know I've always enjoy being a tad dramatic and this was such a huge announcement and all-."

"Is that what I am to you? I could understand being some one-night stand you knocked up and then ignored, hell I'd prefer that. Just leave this baby and me the hell alone! I will not have my child be a part of your stupid plans. It is a baby, Klaus!" Hayley screamed as she stood up and moved to the center of the room, light washing over her face.

Elijah was immediately struck by her beauty. He lost himself momentarily, staring at the curve of her lips and the warm chestnut of her hair, which cascaded down her shoulders in a way he never knew could be so distracting.

"IT IS MY CHILD. MY HEIR!" Klaus stepped forward aggressively, shouting.

"Enough, Klaus!" Elijah warned. Hayley's eyes shot over to meet Elijah's. Elijah's face fell.

Suddenly he felt as if the weight of the past few days had been lifted. He felt a heat and a sense of hope radiating from his core. He didn't stop then to think about it—he was trapped in that moment, and happily so. He never wanted to escape her gaze. He knew in that moment, that he would do anything to protect her from his brother. To protect her from anything. She was everything.

Klaus took Elijah's expression to be one of remorse, that his face fell when he "knew he overstepped his bounds" by scolding his brother. "It is alright, Elijah. You are correct I should be more gracious. Upsetting Hayley could have adverse affects for the baby," Klaus allowed with a causal wave of his hand.

"Nik, sometimes you disgust me!" Rebekah exclaimed, her face full of judgment.

"Why don't you let me show you to your room, Hayley." Elijah suggested trying to construct an escape for the girl before things turned ugly. He offered her his arm, which she declined, but followed him down the stairs, glad to get rid of Klaus if even temporarily.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself, I am Elijah. Klaus is my younger brother. I am incredibly embarrassed by my brother's behavior. You must accept my apologies on his behalf, for he will never deliver them himself." Elijah offered shaking his head in disdain.

"What's his deal? I mean besides from being a power hungry, paranoid sociopath?" she asked, irritated.

"You've pretty much summed him up. Klaus is very much a power hungry and paranoid sociopath. He trusts no one, and always believes everyone else is plotting against him, ready to abandon him without a moment's notice." Elijah sighed.

He navigated quickly through the manor, his destination the room on the second floor with the most windows. She deserves a bit of light in her life, he thought, Klaus will have only brought her darkness thus far. Incidentally, the room he chose happened to be down the hall from his own and a floor away from that of Klaus, who had demanded the master bedroom on the third floor.

"I think you will find this room most comfortable. It has the best light in the entire house and a view of the gardens. If you need anything at all, do not hesitate to come to me or to Rebekah. Even Klaus would probably not refuse you anything; material at least, his pride is too great for that and he enjoys flaunting his money," he said, suddenly unsure if he should leave or if there was more he should say to her. But what?

"Well thank you, Elijah. At least now I can see the sun from my prison cell," she said slamming the door in his face.


	3. Little Wolf

*Hayley's POV *

Hayley threw her backpack down on the bed. It contained the only things that she had to her name—a few toiletries, a broken cell phone, some clothes that Klaus's minions brought for her, and some sci-fi book she found in the car she rented to drive to New Orleans.

Those goddamn witches betrayed her. They promised that she would see her family in the bayou. She trusted them, so desperate to find her family. To find something she belonged to. She set out to the swamp late one night and instead of finding her clan of wolves, she was ambushed by a group of witches. They cast some weird spell on her, binding her life to one of theirs.

The witches had heard a rumor from some witch who had claimed to see the future, that she carried a monster's child. They knew she was pregnant before even she did.

**/Flashback** /

One witch, Agnes, sliced Hayley's arm open drawing blood for the confirmation spell. She knew the minute the pronounced her pregnant that it was Klaus's—she wasn't one to sleep around and what happened with Klaus was a first of its kind. But the witches checked the baby's blood anyway, summoning blood out of her abdomen and chanting foreign words over the crimson cloud that appeared.

"The child she carries is a monster. It is the thing that I saw bringing hellfire down upon us. It is as its father—half vampire, half werewolf… an abomination," the witch decreed.

Hayley wasn't sure what was happening next. The witch was standing over her, she was weak from blood loss and shock. She heard a strange chanting growing louder and louder and then only darkness and silence as she fell unconscious.

She was awoken abruptly as a pair of rough hands shook her to consciousness.

"So this is the girl you say carries my baby?" It was Klaus. "Interesting. Well, little Hayley and I did have a bit of a run in after a few bottles of scotch, so your assertion wouldn't be completely unbelievable if I weren't a VAMPIRE INCAPABLE OF REPRODUCTION." Klaus slammed his fist into a table.

The witch from the gumbo shop appeared, Sophie she thought. "Klaus, as you've made very clear to everyone, you are not merely a vampire. You are also part werewolf and werewolves as you know, can reproduce. That little bun in Hayley's oven is a hybrid. We could perform the spells for you again, but it will only hurt Hayley and could damage the baby—she's already lost a lot of blood," Sophie said.

"Fine. Let us, for the moment, say that I believe you. Why have you brought her here and why are you showing me this? What do you want?" Klaus demanded.

Agnes made a move to explain but Sophie stopped her, "I've got this Agnes."

"You see, Klaus. We hate Marcel. He has banned the use of magic in the Quarter and is cutting us off from our ancestral magic that we need for our powers. He has killed many witches, including my sister. You're an Original you could overthrow him. We know you want to retake New Orleans, and we are sure that you can and eventually will reclaim this land, but we can help you. Offer us your protection from Marcel until you defeat him and swear that you won't go after witches like Marcel has once you've regained power. We just want to live in peace on these lands, our home." Sophie pronounced, the witches surrounding her nodding in agreement. "You really have nothing to lose, Klaus."

"No, it would seem that I don't." He inclined his head towards Hayley, noticing a faint beating separate from the beating of Hayley's heart. Only his eyes revealed his surprise and only Hayley noticed. He moved toward her grabbing her by the arm. "You're coming with me little wolf."

As the pair made their way to the door, Sophie added one caveat to the arrangement. "And Klaus?" he turned to face her. "We've linked Hayley's life to one of our witches, this way you have an incentive to follow through with our deal. If we hurt the witch, Hayley hurts. Kill her, kill Hayley. Now it is also in your interest to protect all of us witches as you do not know which of us is connected to the life of your child…"

"Very well," Klaus spat, disliking being manipulated. He turned on his heal, dragging Hayley behind out the door and into his black SUV.

/ **end flashback**/

Since that night she had been Klaus's prisoner, though he preferred to call it "under his protection". He had kept her in an old house located about an hour outside of New Orleans. The place was surrounded by a gang of vampires he created and compelled to protect her. Sure he had given her whatever food she wanted, not that she had much of an appetite, and fancy clothes, which she ignored for as long as possible and only gave into wearing them when her jeans began to cause her legs to itch and the smell of the blood on the sweatshirt she wore began to make her nauseous. But she felt like a prisoner nonetheless.

She had left Tyler in Mystic Falls after Klaus murdered everyone she knew and cared for. After she and Tyler helped the hybrids break their sire bonds, Klaus felt betrayed and killed them all. She did the only thing she could do, sought out the only people she had left in the world, even if she never knew them. She had hoped to find her family in New Orleans, but she wasn't able to investigate further after being lied to and betrayed by the witches. Hell, at this point she wasn't even sure if she had family in New Orleans or if the witches constructed that lie too, simply to lure her to the area so they could use her like Klaus intended to.

She sighed and threw herself down onto the bed next to her belongings. She put her hand to her stomach and made a silent promise to her baby. I will never abandon you like my family abandoned me. Even if it means fighting Klaus or putting up with him for the rest of my life, I will not leave you.

She tried to get some sleep but it didn't come easy. She replayed the scene from the attic in her head and for some reason she focused on Elijah's face as he stood up to his brother to protect her. For a split second he was livid, she thought, but didn't trust her memory fully. Maybe not all vampires are bad. Hell maybe not all Originals are assholes like Klaus, she thought as she drifted into a fitful sleep.


	4. Mulling Things Over

Short but needed to be done, I promise more Elijah/Hayley interaction once the story gets going!

It was very late but Elijah decided not to sleep that night. Not that he had to sleep ever, but he liked to occasionally because he liked to dream. But not tonight. He had too much to think through and he was distracted and concerned from the sounds coming from down the hall. It appeared that Hayley was having nightmares and Elijah wished to comfort her. Her. What was it with the girl that had captivated his thoughts since he first laid eyes upon her? Why had he felt so strangely protective of her?

It was very much in Elijah's nature to rebuke his brother for his treatment of the woman—the woman carrying his child no less. As it was in his nature to stand up for anyone unfortunate enough and undeserving of Niklaus's rage. But he had never felt so fiercely protective of anyone. Than perhaps my own family, he thought. Maybe that was it. Maybe he thought of her as family. Hayley does after all carry Niklaus's unborn child, and while his brother's current interest was in sustaining his kingdom and gaining an heir, perhaps this child could bring happiness to Klaus. To the entire Mikealson family.

It would make sense, Elijah thought, if Hayley were to be thought of as family as the child will certainly need its mother. Elijah was unsure of any feelings that Klaus may hold for Hayley and feared that once the child was born and in his eyes, his throne secured, he would want nothing more to do with the girl. Elijah vowed he would not allow his brother to discard her as such. He would make her feel welcome to their family and share in their home.

AN: What do you guys think? Elijah is writing off his imprint (and subsequent feelings) on Hayley as a "she and the baby can bring peace to our family"….. How long will that last?


End file.
